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© N Omata
Owino market in Kampala where refugees have shops

Alexander Betts received a British Academy mid-career fellowship to explore the political economy of refugee self-reliance. Focusing on Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia, the research used a combination of archival research and fieldwork to explore the question ‘why do some states give refugees the right to work, and other related socio-economic rights, while others do not?’

The research explores three case studies in depth. First, a political history of Uganda’s self-reliance model. Second, the politics beyond the development of Ethiopia’s 2019 Refugee Proclamation, which ostensibly gives refugees the right to work and freedom of movement. Third, the politics behind Turkana County in Kenya’s development of the Kalobeyei Integrated Social and Economic Development Plan (KISEDP). Out of the research emerges an understanding of the ‘bargains’ that are needed between the international, national, and local levels to enable refugees to have access to socio-economic rights.

The research has been published as four chapters in Alexander Betts’ book The Wealth of Refugees: How Displaced People Can Build Economies (Oxford University Press, 2021).

The team

  • Alexander Betts
    Alexander Betts

    Leopold Muller Professor of Forced Migration and International Affairs

Selected publications